Mexican American Acculturation Scale

Montgomery, G. T. (1992). Comfort with acculturation status among students from South Texas. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14(2), 201-223.

Discusses a 28-item acculturation rating scale for Mexican Americans, designed to measure the extent to which Ss vary in Mexican vs. Anglo cultural orientation (CO), as well as the extent to which they are comfortable with their ethnic identity (EI). The scale was administered to 844 Ss comprising 3 different student populations in Texas. The items in the scale clustered around 5 factors: (1) comfort with Mexican traditions and the Spanish media; (2) English media and Anglo tradition; (3) preferred EI; (4) self-rated EI; and (5) comfort with speaking English. Changes in factor subscale scores showed that Ss in Generations 1 began with a positive bias toward Anglo orientation. By Generation 5, though, Ss showed a preference for a more Mexican CO than they rated themselves as having. The high number of Ss who rated themselves as blended and alienated indicates high acculturative stress.